Clinical caseAn African American girl with sickle cell anemia visits the doctor after developing weakness, fatigue, and pallor. She tells her physician that that several days before, she felt a fever, headache, and muscle aching. She also began to feel joint pain and developed a rash that had a ‘SLAPPED-FACE’ appearance on her face. A blood test reveals severe anemia, as well as a decline in neutrophils and lymphocytes. The myeloid lineage seems normal. Serology confirms the diagnosis, and the doctor orders a transfusion of erythrocytes to prevent life-threatening anemia.

Anemia is a decrease in number of red blood cells (RBCs) or reduced quantity of hemoglobin in the blood.

Myeloid: The term myeloid is an adjective that relates to the granulocyte precursor cell in bone marrow or spinal cord, or a resemblance to the marrow or spinal cord. For example, myeloid leukemia is leukemia that arises from abnormal growth in the blood-forming tissue of the bone marrow.[1]